Kaijudo Writing Contest: Analysis of the Kaijudo Metagame

I’ve searched all over the internet for a comprehensive database of the current meta, there are opinions of every deck you could possibly imagine; but what decks really do see consistent wins?

That’s the purpose of this article, I’m going to analyze the decks that have been performing well all over the world; I’ll save you the time and put all of them in one place—right here!

A Quick Glance

If there’s any one deck you want to see, I’ll post a quick search link right here. CTRL + F will be your friend! Just type out the bold letters and you’ll be instantly taken to that list.

DWF (Darkness/Water/Fire Control)

BLP (Blurple aka Water/Darkness Aggro: Tempo)

TMN (Transmission aka Unleash the Beast)

CBC (Cobalt Control)

FLR (Fire/Light Rush)

DFR (Darkness/Fire Rush)

DSB (Dark Saber-Bolt)

BUG (Darkness/Water/Nature Aggro: Mid-Range)

FWN (Fire/Water/Nature Aggro: Mid-Range)

CLD (Mono Water Aggro)

HRM (Honorable Mentions – Decks that for various reasons missed out of Top 10)

The Decks:

Do note that there are so many variants of each deck out there that it is literally impossible to give you the exact list that will always perform the best, but what I have done is found lists that have multiple reported wins or are very close to lists that have multiple reported wins and then added a list of cards commonly played in similar deck lists.

These decks are not posted in any order.

Please be aware that I can not verify all of the information or give credit solely to the deck’s original creator; there are too many variants out there.

(DWF) Darkness/Water/Fire Control

This is a deck that has performed well and besides Blurple, likely has the most variants out there. This deck is capable controlling the game incredibly well; the Water generates draw, the darkness provides both discard and destruction, and the fire provides destruction and threats. With the right hand this deck is capable of being very aggressive, otherwise it will generate constant answers to threats while gaining advantage by playing its own threats like Tatsurion the Unchained. Don’t forget, Gilaflame can be removal for Neptas/Medusa/Neuron!

Author: Aiden_Thorne

Darkness:

1x Skull Shatter

3x Terror Pit

2x Razorkinder Puppet

2x Hydra Medusa

3x Bone Blades

3x Fumes

2x Screeching Scaradorable

3x Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow

Water:

2x Milporo, Council of Logos

2x King Neptas

1x Crystal Memory

2x Spy Mission

2x Rusalka, Aqua Chaser

3x Aqua Seneschal

3x Logos Scan

3x Reef-Eye

Fire:

3x Tatsurion the Unchained

1x Tatsurion

3x Barrage

1x Tornado Flame

3x Gilaflame the Assaulter

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Bolt-Tail Dragon

King Coral

Dark Scaradorable

Heat Seekers

(BLP) Blurple aka Water/Darkness Aggro: Tempo

Blurple has so many variants it will make your head spin, but this is with good reason; when it comes to making the game go at your pace, no deck shines like Blurple does. I’ve often heard this deck referred to as Neuron/Medusa beat down, and well, a lot of games will end up with you playing Neuron and gaining advantages off of him until you can start dropping the Terror Pit with legs and continuing to break shields. Seneschal into Screeching or Rusalka will show you why this deck consistently wins games. When you think of a deck that can constantly create threats while gaining advantage and then switch into conservative styles this is your go-to list.

Author: Team Peach

Water:

2x King Neptas

3x Rusalka, Aqua Chaser

2x Emperor Neuron

3x Aqua Seneschal

3x Logos Scan

2x Cyber Trader

3x Cyber Sprite

Darkness:

2x Skull Shatter

3x Terror Pit

2x Dark Scaradorable

3x Hydra Medusa

3x Bone Blades

3x Screeching Scaradorable

3x Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow

3x Gigabolver

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Spy Mission

Fumes

Gigastand

Ice Blade

(TMN) Transmission aka Unleash the Beast

Transmission was a deck that came way out of left field, it appeared out of no where and drew cards with Mother Virus and then proceeded to beat people down with Flamespike Tatsurion. It’s a deck full of tech (heh rhymes) that can effortlessly switch ‘gears’ to meet the required play style of a match up!

Author: Christopher Claybern

Water:

1x Waterspout Gargoyle

2x Milporo, Council of Logos

2x Mother Virus

2x Crystal Memory

3x Logos Scan

1x Hovercraft Glu-urrgle

2x Emperor Neuron

2x Cyber Trader

3x Cyber Sprite

Darkness:

2x Skull Shatter

3x Terror Pit

2x Razorkinder Puppet

3x Bone Blades

Nature:

1x Terradragon Regarion Doom

2x Tendril Grasp

2x Flamespike Tatsurion

2x Reap and Sow

2x Bronze-Arm Tribe

1x Bronze-Arm Sabertooth

2x Razorhide

2x Essence Elf

3x Prickleback

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Root Trap

Gigahorn Charger

Rusalka, Aqua Chaser

Aqua Seneschal

(CBC) Cobalt Control

This is a deck that has been seeing more and more play recently, and it’s been performing incredibly well. Originating in Texas, Cobalt Control has been tapping and killing creatures all the way to the top of the meta! It gets your opponent to no cards and then proceeds to control the game with tap related removal and discard. You don’t need shields, you can just get more!

Author: Bobby Brake

Light:

2x Orion, Radiant Fury

1x Grand Gure, Tower Keeper

3x Cobalt, the Storm Knight

3x Stormspark Blast

3x Keeper of Dawn

3x Star Lantern

3x Blinder Beetle

3x Chasm Entangler

Darkness:

1x Skull Shatter

1x Megeria, the Collector

3x Terrror Pit

2x Razorkinder Puppet

3x Bone Blades

2x Fumes

2x Specter Claw

2x Dark Return

Water:

1x Waterspout Gargoyle

1x Milporo, Council of Logos

3x Crystal Memory

3x Spy Mission

2x Rusulka, Aqua Chaser

3x Logos Scan

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Razorkinder

Halon, Paragon of Light

Death Smoke

Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow

(FLR) Fire/Light Rush

In Kaijudo you can always expect at least one form of rush deck to be a top tier deck, this time around there are actually two! Rush decks as usually are hit or miss, but that’s the beauty of the Light variant, with Stormspark Blast as a Shield Blast you can potentially win games that shouldn’t be won (I see this happen far more often than it should).

Author: Aiden_Thorne

Fire:

1x Barrage

3x Gilaflame, the Assaulter

3x Draglide the Swiftest

3x Jet-Thrust Darter

3x Comet Missile

3x Badlands Lizard

3x Lava Leaper

2x Kenina the Igniter

3x Blaze Belcher

Light:

2x Stormspark Blast

3x Helios Rings

2x Shaw K’naw

3x Blinder Beetle

3x Cloudwalker Drone

3x Magris the Magnetizer

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Sparkblade Protector

Laser-Arm Drakon

Sunshock

Covering Fire

(DFR) Darkness/Fire Rush

As I said earlier, there were two rush archetypes around this time, and while the Darkness variant can’t shield blast a Stormspark Blast; it can play Screeching Scaradorable and Hydra Medusa! On top of that Return From Beyond can be a pseudo Fast Attack if necessary, otherwise it tends to be even more removal!

Author: Team Peach

Darkness:

2x Hydra Medusa

3x Bone Blades

2x Return From Beyond

3x Screeching Scaradorable

3x Locomotivator

3x Gigazanda

3x Gigabolver

3x Marrow Ooze

Fire:

3x Gilaflame, the Assaulter

3x Jet-Thrust Darter

3x Drakon Weaponsmith

3x Lava Leaper

3x Comet Missile

3x Blaze Belcher

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Terror Pit

Draglide the Swiftest

Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow

Kenina the Igniter

(DSB) Dark Saber-Bolt

This is a variant of Pogiforce’s Aqua Saber-Bolt originally created by Matt Segura that completely changed a civilization; forget about draw, this is all about the aggression! This version allows for constant pressure and more reliable removal at the cost of being able to replenish resources, the goal is to get to 8 mana as quickly as possible and drop more threats than your opponent can deal with.

The popularity of this deck has completely swept the internet recently and variants are popping up everywhere, this has made it hard to pinpoint which decks have been successful in tournaments and which have not. I found a list very similar to decks that have won tournaments.

Author: Statistic

Dark:

3x Skull Shatter

3x Terror Pit

3x Bone Blades

3x Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow

Fire:

3x Bolt-Tail Dragon

1x Tatsurion the Unchained

2x Barrage

3x Gilaflame the Assaulter

2x Heat Seekers

Nature:

2x Tendril Grasp

3x Bronze-Arm Tribe

3x Bronze-Arm Sabertooth

3x Reap and Sow

3x Razorhide

3x Prickleback

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Dark Scaradorable

Tatsurion

Gigahorn Charger

Tornado Flame

(BUG) Darkness/Water/Nature Aggro: Tempo

Darkness/Water/Nature is very strong in the mid-game, and poses more threats than any control variant at that point. This strength comes with a weakness though, it happens to die out into the later game in comparison to the control variants. This deck archetype has some consistency issues. Reap and Sow along with removal in the form of Root Traps and Terror Pits makes sure you always have an answer!

Author: Kyle Rickevicius

Darkness:

3x Terror Pit

2x Razorkinder Puppet

2x Hydra Medusa

2x Screeching Scaradorable

2x Fumes

3x Bone Blades

2x Gigastand

Water:

2x Rusalka, Aqua Chaser

2x Emperor Neuron

3x Aqua Seneschal

3x Logos Scan

2x Cyber Trader

3x Cyber Sprite

Nature:

3x Root Trap

2x Reap and Sow

2x Bronze-Arm Tribe

2x Bronze-Arm Sabertooth

3x Razorhide

3x Prickleback

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Dark Scaradorable

Flamespike Tatsurion

Gigahorn Charger

Crystal Memory

(FWN) Fire/Water/Nature Aggro: Mid-Range

This was a deck that actually had the first notable variant come from Canada, created by Pojo user AHShadow. TheKaijudoChannel has a very powerful variant of the deck; this is actually the one he played against Chuck Arnett at Wizards of the Coast. This deck remains strong throughout the entire game, shining especially bright in the mid-game.

Author: TheKaijudoChannel

Fire:

2x Bolt-Tail Dragon

2x Tatsurion the Unchained

1x Tatsurion

3x Barrage

1x Tornado Flame

2x Gilaflame the Assaulter

3x Heat Seekers

Water:

1x Mother Virus

1x Crystal Memory

2x Rusalka, Aqua Chaser

2x Hydro Spy

3x Emperor Neuron

3x Logos Scan

3x Aqua Seneschal

2x Cyber Trader

3x Cyber Sprite

Nature:

3x Root Trap

3x Tendril Grasp

3x Gigahorn Charger

3x Reap and Sow

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

Crimson Wyvern

King Neptas

Bronze-Arm Tribe

Spy Mission

(CLD) Cyber Lord Deck (Mono Water Aggro)

Mono Water is the only mono Civilization deck that has consistent tournament wins; this is not to say it is better, only that it has more consistency due to its ridiculous amount of draw. This deck will never run out of steam, and it will apply pressure (Get it, like the ocean depths), and even tech support! The major downfall is the deck’s inability to deal with large threats such as Bolt-Tail Dragon or Flamespike Tatsurion, the only defense is bouncing them and hoping they win the race.

Author: jurracmaster

Water:

1x Waterspout Gargoyle

1x Milporo, Council of Logos

2x Aquatic Expulsion

3x Hokira, Council of Logos

2x Reef Prince Glu-urrgle

3x Finbar, Council of Logos

3x Veil Vortex

3x Emperor Neuron

3x Hovercraft Glu-urrgle

2x Aqua Seneschal

3x Reef Gladiator

3x Logos Scan

3x Search the Depths

3x Cyber Trader

2x Ice Blade

3x Cyber Sprite

Commonly seen cards in other variants:

King Neptas

Emperor Axon

Rusalka, Aqua Chaser

Hydro Spy

(HRM) Honorable Mentions

Aqua Saber-Bolt by Pogiforce aka The Kaijudo Hatter – Though this deck is capable of being more consistent than its Darkness counterpart, it lacks the reliable removal and sheer ferocity that pushes through most control decks. Be careful when you’re running Aggro though—this deck will eat you.

Hyperspeed Dragon by Carl Reddish – A bit outdated, but Hyperspeed isn’t something to count out, especially with an entire Dragon set coming out—keep an eye out for this one.

Mono Darkness Aggro by Team Peach – I really like this deck, but there weren’t enough success stories; don’t count this one out yet though! Dat Medusa.

Four Civilization Control by Bryan Anderson – This deck is a very powerful control variant, and gives you access to the strengths of four different civilizations—this variant specifically ignored Light. It sadly wasn’t consistent enough to make the cut, but four civ control has seen success all over, and though it isn’t top tier; it’s certainly very close.

Cyber Beastdown by Drizer – Though lacking in consistency at times, this deck is able to ‘beast’ opponents down with an overwhelming field of low cost large bodies. —This knocked Lepidos and Mana Ramp off the list!

All decks used with the permission of their creators, permission was gained for all 15 listed decks before they were split into Top 10 and Honorable Mentions.

Check out my Youtube channel here. You'll be able to see follow up videos as well as be given the latest updates on the follow up article!

I'm Andy Criss, also known as Aiden Thorne to the Kaijudo community. I am currently a full time student who works as a part time writer/editor—I also write A LOT about Kaijudo.
I've been the administrator of a Kaijudo fan website/forum since before the game was released, this was because I was a strong advocate of Duel Masters. Though Kaijudo is not the only game I play, I often find success in MtG and other popular games.
I am well known throughout the Kaijudo community for being a competitive player with great insight; I was a Pojo.com Card of the Day writer, I am article writer for Kaijudo.com, and I am known on youtube.com as GatesKaijudo—a hub that I keep exclusively for competitive content.